Did people living in the manor in the middle ages have servants?

Answer 1

Yes, Each Lord Was Granted a Knight For His Servent.

2nd Answer: I am going to take another run at that one, as I don't think the above post really clears much up.

First lets clear up what we mean by manor. A manor is a feudal land holding. It may or may not be contiguous to a single village. Some manors included more than one village, an in a few cases a village could be divided between two manors. In practice, many modern laymen use it to mean village, which is not exactly the same thing. So this question might mean does the feudal lord of the manor have servants, or does someone living in a medieval village have servants? To be safe I will answer both questions.

First, does the Feudal lord of a village have servants? Absolutely yes. Even a knight who held only a single manor would have a number of employees. His manor house would be his primary dwelling, but around this house would be a complex of service and utility buildings, including barns, byres, a kitchen (often separate from the house) a brewhouse, a dovecote, etc. If the lord was often absent, or the manor was not his main residence, he would have a steward to administer his affairs. He might appoint a bailiff to supervise field work. There would be a number of agricultural workers in his employee to look after animals, gardens, etc, and also a household staff for cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. Overall there might be a dozen people in the manor house complex other than the lord and his family.

As to the question of villagers having servants, most did not but the better off sometimes did. Not all villagers lived at the same level of wealth. Some were a bare subsistence, others were quite comfortable. A freeholder with 30 acres might have a maidservant living with his family, as might the miller in a prosperous village. The town priest might have a house servant as well. A simple cottager certainly would not, nor would a villein farmer with a dozen acres for support.